Yarden Garzon is undoubtedly one of the best Israeli basketball players to emerge in recent years. The 22-year-old guard (6-foot-1), originally from Raanana, starred in the NCAA over the past four seasons, spending three years at Indiana before transferring to Maryland for her senior year.

According to many projections, Garzon was expected to become just the second Israeli to play in the WNBA, but she ultimately went undrafted a few months ago. She later signed a rookie contract with the Phoenix Mercury, though the team eventually decided to let her go.

Now, as she looks ahead to the next chapter of her career, Garzon sat down for an exclusive interview with The Sports Rabbi where a myriad of topics was discussed from her early beginnings as a basketball player all the way to present day.

“I’m doing really well,” Garzon began. “I’m working on getting ready for next season. Soon there will be updates about where I’ll be playing and what my upcoming goals are. While I’m excited to finish my college career, I expected things to go a little differently, but as the saying goes, we plan and God laughs. Now I’m about to begin my professional career.”

Garzon has spent the last four years in the United States and while her future may be outside of Israel, there’s no place like home, “Of course I miss home a lot and I’m someone who’s very, very close to my family. They came to visit me every year too. Yes, it’s difficult. But I can say that over time you kind of get used to it. I gradually built my own circle of people here, people I’m really close to. They truly ‘adopted’ me and made me feel like I belonged, like family here and also during my years at Indiana. Obviously, we’ve all been through a lot over the last few years, especially the last three years, so experiencing all of that from afar wasn’t easy. But that’s also part of the journey and part of learning.”

Growing up in a home with a very athletic family helped begin to mold Garzon as to who she is today, “My dad played basketball in Maccabi’s youth system and my mom played volleyball for many years. Growing up, we were always outside playing soccer, basketball, riding bikes, whatever we could. Then one day I joined a basketball program and that’s where it all started.”

“Basketball-wise, I don’t think I had one specific role model where I said, ‘I want to be like her when I grow up,’ unfortunately. I wasn’t really exposed to that. But every year I wanted to be better than the girls who were three, four, or five years older than me. I’d watch them and think, ‘Okay, I want to do a step-back like her. I want to shoot like her. I want to pass like her.’ So throughout my journey, I was always looking two or three steps ahead at the kind of player I wanted to become and that’s where I found my role models.”

Having an older sister in Lior who is a high-level basketball player is also helpful along the way for Garzon, “I think it really comes from our family and it’s great that we have each other. We understand what the other is going through. She went to college before I did, so when I moved to the U.S., she helped me a lot with what to do and how to handle everything. It’s great to have someone who truly understands me and is going through similar experiences that we can share.”

After starring in high school and local youth leagues in Israel, Garzon was recruited by colleges in the United States and chose to attend Indiana, “I arrived at Indiana as an 18-year-old kid who didn’t know much and I grew tremendously. Of course, I developed as a player on the court, but I also developed as a person. Those years between 18 and 21 are really significant because that’s when you learn so much and become an adult. Living away from home was mainly about growing up.”

After three years at Indiana, Garzon decided to move to Maryland for her last year of eligibility, “I felt I needed new opportunities, maybe a different system and to test myself in a different environment. I chose Maryland mainly because I wanted to learn from head coach Brenda Frese, who’s known for developing players into impactful professionals. I think I fit in pretty quickly and I connected well with the coaching staff and the players. Unfortunately, we had a lot of ups and downs that season and it didn’t go exactly the way we wanted. There were a lot of injuries and a lot of changes, but that’s part of life.”

During her four years in college ball, Garzon was fortunate to be able to play in the NCAA Tournament, March Madness in each of her seasons, “I don’t think anyone who hasn’t experienced it or been in the American college system can truly understand it. All eyes are on you. It’s the biggest event of the year. It’s broadcast to millions of people. I’m really happy I got to be part of it for four years. The level of organization, the quality of the players, the facilities, you really can’t compare it to anything else.”

After her senior year at Maryland, Garzon was not selected in the most recent WNBA Draft which of course was disappointing as she had been highly rated during her time in college, “There’s really no way to sugarcoat it. It was a huge disappointment because there were high expectations. I was projected in pretty much every mock draft. For a few hours, it was difficult to accept. But I think that’s the beauty of it, every player has their own path. I’ll make it to the WNBA, I’m sure of it. It’ll just happen through a different route.”

Israelis have been negatively targeted across the board in every sector due to recent wars with Hamas and Iran which is something that Garzon hopes was not the case with her not being selected in the draft.

“I honestly don’t know. I hope it had nothing to do with it. But with everything happening in the world today and around us, there are so many Israelis in sports, in high-tech, really in every fiel who are affected because they’re Israeli. But I’m incredibly proud to be Israeli and represent my country. I truly hope that wasn’t the reason.”

Following the draft, Garzon did sign a rookie contract with the Phoenix Mercury and was able to head to training camp, but at the end of the day it didn’t work out due to an injury and she was released, “It was a great experience. I started training camp really well and I was getting very, very positive feedback. It looked like things were heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, I got injured during camp, so I wasn’t able to give everything I had or fully prove myself through the end of camp, which was really disappointing. But yes, I believe I’m absolutely at the level of that league. I know I can play there and contribute to teams, and I believe I’ll get there.”

“On one hand, of course I was disappointed. I wanted to make the WNBA this year. On the other hand, I completely understood their decision because with my injury it was difficult to continue when the season was starting and I couldn’t be on the court. It was especially frustrating because of the injury. They really gave me as much time as they could to try to get back on the court, but injuries are part of every athlete’s career, and you have to deal with them.”

On the bright side, Garzon was recently selected as one of Forbes Israel’s 30 Under 30 which was a real boost for the hoopster, “I think it’s very special and it’s encouraging to know that people see me and recognize what I’m doing. I’m really proud to be Israeli wherever I go. It’s a great feeling to receive that recognition. It’s a huge honor, and now I just want to keep working.”

Israel has been able to develop a number of young talented women which has really helped improve the national team at all levels, both in the youth ranks and the senior squad, Garzon explained, “I think the future is extremely bright. Everyone has their own path and their own way of building a career. There are so many talented players, Gal is definitely one of them and there are more coming up through the youth national teams. I believe they’ll become very significant players and reach the highest levels. I hope they’ll all work hard, surround themselves with good people who want to help them, and receive the right guidance. Ultimately, I hope the national team will become much more successful in the coming years.”

As for the state of basketball in Israel compared to the United States, Garzon feels its an entirely different story as women’s hoops is one of the fastest growing sports in the country.

“In the United States, women’s basketball isn’t considered a secondary sport anymore, it’s mainstream. Everyone knows about women’s sports. Everyone watches and follows it. The arenas are packed, it’s really a blessing to be a women’s basketball player in this generation and it’s something that shouldn’t take for granted.

“I hope every player gets the opportunity to experience playing in front of 15,000 to 20,000 fans. It’s a completely different feeling that you can’t describe; walking onto the court with that many people watching, cheering and screaming. It’s something else. I hope things continue to improve in Israel, that the exposure grows. I know there are a lot of people working to make that happen and I hope they succeed over the next few years.”

As for what’s coming upon next for Garzon, her plans will be made public very soon as she looks to take the next step in her young career which will hopefully lead to her ultimate goal.

“I’m currently in the process of finalizing my next step. Hopefully it’ll all be settled in the next few days, and then I’ll be able to talk about it more. The big goal is still the same, to reach the WNBA. Right now I just need to find the path that gets me there.

“At the end of the day, I want to finish my career knowing I did everything I possibly could, that I reached my full potential and became the best player I could be. Part of that is making it to the WNBA and becoming an impactful player, a starting-caliber player in the WNBA. I truly believe I can get there. I’ll keep working hard and it will happen. I believe that 100%.”